Need for the United Front strategy in today’s times of Fascism

fascism
Cartoon depiction of a popular front in the Romanian leftist and anti-fascist newspaper Cuvântul Liber, 1935

India has seen the fascist rise with RSS-BJP led government in power since 2014. Rashtriya  Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a cadre based organization with its inspirations from

Mussolini’s fascist movement in Italy. The book We Our Nationhood Defined, M.S Golwalkar defined Nation on the grounds of religion, culture, race and language. It advocated for a republic based on religion as against secular democratic republic of India, being inspired from Mussolini and Nazis. Both Italian and German fascism were linked with rule of corporate-capital similar to RSS-BJP led regime. The movement of RSS is a fascist movement led by cadre-based organization and its parliamentary front BJP which serves the most reactionary monopoly finance capital. It is a movement founded on creating a nation, Hindu Rashtra, based on religion and an imaginary past called Ram Rajya, with most conservative, casteist and irrational elements. All kinds of fascism function by creating a figure of false enemy which can be Jews, Gypsys in Germany, or Muslims and Dalits in India and dismantling democracy.

Fascism is a global phenomenon today with several far-right and neo-Nazi parties rising, for instance, Golden Dawn in Greece, Brother’s of Italy, National Rally in France, Netanyahu in Israel, Erdogan in Turkey, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, hence, it is very important to understand why Fascism comes into existence, what is its material basis? and what are the class basis of rise of Fascism?

World capitalism is undergoing structural crisis ever since 1970s, recent one being 2008 financial crisis and the latest 2020 Covid recession. With the crisis and declining rates of profits, the capitalist competition intensifies, resulting into large scale ruination in profits of petty-bourgeoisie and misery of middle and working classes. The fascists provide false enemy to the sections of society and constructs a false dream of imaginary past, in India being Hindutva fascism. In the populist slogans and false promises the fascists ride to power on the tide of funding from monopoly bourgeoisie (Adani, Ambani in India) and imperialists. It serves their interests while imposing the dictatorship on minorities, oppressed sections, including sections which had supported it.

Due to the intensifying competition between monopolies and non-monopoly capitalists, fascists go even against sections of capitalist class and its representative bourgeoisie parties. In order to do so they take steps to curtail bourgeoisie Constitution and bourgeoisie Parliamentary democratic system, autonomy of Judiciary, in order to establish open bourgeoisie dictatorship.

In such a scenario basic democratic rights such as right to protest, right to assemble and right to free speech is also curtailed, thus primary task becomes to save the democratic rights. Even sections of bourgeoisie parties are affected by the fascist dictatorship, for example, AAP in India. This makes communists to tactically ally with most radical sections of bourgeoisie parties in the struggle against fascism. In India, several radical regional parties and smaller factions can have a potential to fight against fascism, this potential can be utilized for waging an anti-fascist struggle at the grassroots level by forming United Fronts. However, instead of forming independent United Fronts at grassroots level and Popular Fronts with radical parties the communists today are tail-ending behind Congress. Congress, which is a Neo-liberal party with a history of collaborating with RSS, cannot be any firm ally in anti-fascist struggle. Elections can be used as a means in United Front on minimum program of anti-fascist electoral victory. Communist should strive to uphold the leadership in any such United Front. INDIA is an example of bourgeoisie alliance, and the joining of communists in it is becoming tail-end of capitalist parties, totally depending on elections and votes to defeat fascism is a glaring example of revisionism and decline of left movement on ground in last 2 decades.

The another tendency among communists popular today is fighting among itself. The same was done by German communists where KPD was fighting against SPD calling them social democrats and revisionists. This is class against class policy of Third Period conceptualized in Sixth Congress of Comintern in 1929, was a historical error, it was sectarian blunder which led Nazis to hold power in Germany and it was reversed with Dimitrov thesis of United Front and Popular Front after Nazis took power. Communists yet haven’t realized this historic mistake and are yet to work a correct tactical program on anti-fascist struggle without allying with major capitalist parties, such as Congress.

Today there is need of national level United Front and Popular Front at local levels against Fascism, without compromising working class agenda, without becoming tail-end to any  bourgeoisie party in anti-Fascist United Front or elections like what has happened in INDIA alliance where mainstream left parties have become tail-end, instead of working independently at grassroots levels, creating fronts wherever appropriate with radical parties against fascism.


We are in times today where Fascism has faced an electoral setback, however, this setback has not been enough to dislodge BJP from power. Even if BJP is out of power, it will exist in state machinery and on streets due to RSS. It will regain its position back in power from the trenches it has created in state machinery and civil society, even if it looses a few elections. The global crisis of imperialism needs fascism in order to continue its rule. As the crisis is prolonged in nature, the Fascism is going to exist for a longer time even if it looses a few elections. Hence, fascism cannot be defeated only by defeating it in elections. The anti-fascist struggle today needs to be a broad-based mass movement with working class, petty bourgeoisie, radical sections of bourgeoisie, and peasantry against fascism and imperialism. This anti-fascist mass struggle must ensure that fascism is defeated not only in parliament but also on streets and its influence liquidated from state machinery. The current time of electoral setback of fascism is a favorable time for communists to strategize and form a broad-based anti-fascist United Front and Popular Fronts based on specific conditions, and expand their own support among masses through anti-fascist struggle.

Jai Kishan is a communist activist and a Marxist writer, associated with Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS). He is a science post-graduate, working as education and research professional, he is currently pursuing his M.A in Education from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

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